Arking Up About Important Issues

by AlexandraFalls (North Central Review Newspaper)

ACCESS Round Kilmore (ARK) is a new community information group dedicated to improving the footpaths in the Mitchell Shire area, particularly Kilmore.

Founder Amy Bell said that ARK is a group of like-minded residents of the Mitchell Shire who are interested in making Kilmore a better place to live.

Ms Bell is no stranger to acting as a voice for the community; she was instrumental in campaigning for better footpaths in Kilmore East earlier in 2010.

“We (ARK) support the implementation of footpaths or space on road for cycling and walking,” Ms Bell said.

“We believe that all public spaces in Kilmore should have a path from them linking into town.”

Ms Bell also cites safe independent travel for primary schools, better playgrounds and planting in public spaces and the construction of infrastructure projects as further important issues.

Members of ARK gather via Facebook where interested people can log on and check out the recent local developments about footpaths, public spaces and environmental projects.

It is Ms Bell’s hope that the ARK Facebook group will act as a channel of communication between the public and local members of government by providing a forum where residents can meet and exchange ideas and information.

“I figured it would help for Kilmore to have an information hub on issues like this and it's exciting to see that other residents in Kilmore support the construction of footpaths,” Ms Bell said.

She added that the new community forum is in no way campaigning against the local government, but hopes to actively work with them to better the local area.

“We (ARK) won’t apply for funding directly, we will be lobbying the Council and the State Government to apply for funding for projects we believe are important to the community,” Ms Bell said.

So far ARK’s only setback is that people must be a member of Facebook to consult the ARK community forum.

However, Ms Bell said that it is too early to determine if physical ARK meetings would be well-attended or effective.

Users of ARK must be members of Facebook. To find, the ARK group page type ‘ARK’ into the search function on your Facebook home page.